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LNG tankers divert to Europe from Asia after Russia halts materials to Austria's OMV

A minimum of five freights of liquefied gas have actually diverted from Asia to Europe in the previous couple of days, drawn by higher gas costs on the continent after Russia's Gazprom stopped supplies to Austria's OMV, information from analytics firm Kpler revealed.

On Saturday Gazprom halted products to leading Austrian gas importer OMV after OMV threatened to impound some of the Russian state company's gas as settlement for an arbitration it had actually won over a contractual conflict.

Gazprom notified OMV of the prepared stop on Friday, triggering European gas costs at the Dutch TTF center to surge, making it more lucrative to send out gas to Europe rather than Asia.

The JKM-TTF spread flipped into negative territory last week amidst Russian pipeline gas supply concerns and an upcoming cold spell, which saw traders divert LNG freights away from Asia and towards Europe, said Laura Page, manager of gas and LNG insight at Kpler.

The benchmark front-month agreement at the Dutch TTF center was trading at 46.00 euros per megawatt hour on Monday, or $14.49 per mmBtu, the greatest level given that Nov. 23, 2023. The Asian benchmark Japan Korea Marker (JKM) was trading at around $14/mmBtu, LSEG data revealed.

Vivert City LNG tanker, which packed a cargo from Equatorial Guinea and was heading to Bangladesh, diverted on Friday and is now heading towards Britain's South Hook terminal.

Gaslog Windsor tanker, which had actually a cargo packed with U.S. LNG from Sabine Pass that was initially headed to China, altered its destination on Friday towards Britain's Island of Grain terminal.

BW Lesmes tanker had a cargo crammed type Nigeria and was at first headed to China however altered instructions towards Britain's Island of Grain.

One of the main factors ships are switching to the UK, however, is most likely that the UK's terminals weren't so busy as a few of the main Continental terminals, implying there were more extra unloading slots for traders to access when they decided to divert Asian freights to Europe, said Alex Froley, senior LNG analyst at information intelligence firm ICIS.

The Diamond Gas Crystal, originally headed to South Korea, has changed back and is not heading to the Dutch Gate terminal.

The Flex Vigilant tanker has diverted from China and is now headed to Europe, awaiting orders.

Russian gas exports through Ukraine to Europe - the primary transit route for Russian gas to the EU - were stable on Monday, according to Gazprom.

Ukraine has said it will not extend a gas transit handle Russia as soon as a five-year agreement ends at the end of the year.

(source: Reuters)